About Mercy Corps

Mercy Corps is a leading global organisation powered by the belief that a better world is possible. In disaster, in hardship, in more than 40 countries around the world, we partner to put bold solutions into action — helping people triumph over adversity and build stronger communities from within. Now, and for the future.

Programme / Department Summary

Mercy Corps has a strong programmatic footprint across Africa, working in more than 15 countries to strengthen systems that drive job creation and raise incomes for youth, MSMEs, farmers, women and other groups, enhance food and water security, and promote peace and good governance. With more than 1,000 team members working across East, West, Central and Southern Africa, Mercy Corps responds to urgent humanitarian crisis while working to strengthen the systems that people rely on to promote peaceful, prosperous and resilient communities.

The PROPEL Program is a funding partnership between the Z Zurich Foundation and the Audemars Piguet Foundation to strengthen education and employment pathways for young people in Uganda, Tanzania, Liberia and Senegal. Working in partnership with Junior Achievement Africa (JAA), PROPEL will address persistent youth unemployment by combining demand-driven skills development with market systems strengthening, removing structural barriers that prevent young people (particularly underserved groups) from accessing dignified and sustainable employment. JAA’s interventions will work with TVET institutions in each of the 4 countries to ensure that training curriculum is aligned to labor market needs, and will work to embed entrepreneurship and employability training within core TVET curriculum. Mercy Corps’ interventions will work with local employers and government to strengthen the employment ecosystem in targeted communities by supporting the private sector to strengthen employment of young people, enhancing the overall policy environment to support employment incentives and pathways, and working with financial service providers to enable access to capital for youth entrepreneurs. Together, the program will directly support 41,000 youth with skills and entrepreneurship pathways and strengthen the institutions that influence employment systems for a further 200,000 youth indirectly

General Position Summary

The Programme Start-up Lead for PROPEL coordinates all the Programme Start-up activities across the 4 PROPEL target countries during the initial 3-month inception phase. This includes the development of an integrated and comprehensive work plan, coordination of inception deliverables, set-up of the PROPEL project in line with Mercy Corps’ programme management minimum standards (PM@MC), coordination of financial and personnel resources, and recruitment and induction of the programme team. The Start-up Lead bridges the gap between the programme’s start-up needs and the existing and available country and regional team’s capacity and resources, and at the end of the inception phase will hand over to the long-term programme lead who will oversee the implementation phase of the program. The Start-up Lead will set-up the relationship with JAA, working closely with them and the donors throughout the inception phase.

Essential Responsibilities

Analysis & Strategy & Management

• Develop a strategic and achievable plan for the inception phase focused on meaningful evidence generation, analysis and redesign. This includes:
  • Detailed implementation plan for the first year of the programme
  • Detailed procurement plan
  • Stakeholder management plan
  • Budget utilization plan
• Lead the implementation of the inception phase activities based on critical path key milestones, including initiating labor market assessments in each of the target countries to evaluate the supply of and demand for skills
• Lead the formalisation of the partnership with JAA, working work closely with them on planning and activity start-up to ensure effective coordination and collaboration going forward
• Lead meetings and discussions with Z Zurich Foundation and Audemars Piguet Foundation to agree final outcomes and priorities to ensure full alignment and complementarity.
• Engage HQ and Technical Support, Evidence and Program Quality (TEQ) Unit and coordinate their involvement in the PROPEL project during the inception phase, handing over the relationship to the Team Lead and Technical Leads at the end of the inception.

Stakeholder / partnership engagement

• Lead meetings and discussions with key stakeholders, together with JAA, to share programme vision and strategy, and to identify scope for partnership, collaboration and coordination during the inception phase and throughout the programme.
• Key stakeholders include:
  • TVET institutions, both public and private, across targeted geographies
  • Government Ministries responsible for youth employment and TVET education, relevant line ministries, regulatory bodies, and local authorities
  • Financial Ecosystem Stakeholders – Banks, Microfinance Institutions, and other investors
  • Private Sector Partners to understand their labor needs and ways to engage in the program
  • Other Donor-Funded or Multilateral Actors, including UNIDO, the World Bank and IFC, and representatives from donor working groups to harmonise approaches

Hiring and Onboarding

• Collaborate with the HR teams in each country to establish a recruitment and onboarding plan.
• Participate in the hiring and onboarding of key programme roles, including the Team Lead and Technical Leads
• Manage the handover process to the substantive PD including orientation, introduction to key actors, transitional support etc
• Work on office set up in conjunction with the Uganda team

Standards and Compliance

• Socialise Programme Management Minimum Standards and best practices including PM@MC, and all other relevant standards.
• Foster a culture of compliance and accountability among the team with regards to Mercy Corps, donor and government laws, policies, rules and regulations.

Organisational Learning

• Capture lessons learned to improve future project start-ups
• Prepare a post-startup work plan to guide transition to regular programme implementation.

Supervisory Responsibility

PROPEL Programme Team

Accountability

Reports Directly To: The Deputy Regional Director

Works Directly With: Country Director, Deputy Country Director, Operations, Finance teams, HQ Regional Programme Team, HQ TEQ Unit, JAA and Donor Representatives.

Accountability to Participants and Stakeholders

Mercy Corps team members are expected to support all efforts toward accountability, specifically to our programme participants, community partners, other stakeholders, and to international standards guiding international relief and development work. We are committed to actively engaging communities as equal partners in the design, monitoring and evaluation of our field projects.

Minimum Qualification & Transferable Skills

• BA/BS degree in a relevant field, including development economics, finance, business administration, or a related field relevant to technical education, employment, or private-sector development.
• A minimum of 3 to 5 years managing programmes in the field for organisations like Mercy Corps with excellent knowledge of organisation structure, resources and processes, and demonstrated understanding of programme management, policies and minimum standards
• Experience in TVET training, MSD4E, innovative financial p

• Develop a strategic and achievable plan for the inception phase focused on meaningful evidence generation, analysis and redesign. This includes: Detailed implementation plan for the first year of the programme, Detailed procurement plan, Stakeholder management plan, Budget utilization plan.
• Lead the implementation of the inception phase activities based on critical path key milestones, including initiating labor market assessments in each of the target countries to evaluate the supply of and demand for skills.
• Lead the formalisation of the partnership with JAA, working work closely with them on planning and activity start-up to ensure effective coordination and collaboration going forward.
• Lead meetings and discussions with Z Zurich Foundation and Audemars Piguet Foundation to agree final outcomes and priorities to ensure full alignment and complementarity.
• Engage HQ and Technical Support, Evidence and Program Quality (TEQ) Unit and coordinate their involvement in the PROPEL project during the inception phase, handing over the relationship to the Team Lead and Technical Leads at the end of the inception.
• Lead meetings and discussions with key stakeholders, together with JAA, to share programme vision and strategy, and to identify scope for partnership, collaboration and coordination during the inception phase and throughout the programme.
• Collaborate with the HR teams in each country to establish a recruitment and onboarding plan.
• Participate in the hiring and onboarding of key programme roles, including the Team Lead and Technical Leads.
• Manage the handover process to the substantive PD including orientation, introduction to key actors, transitional support etc.
• Work on office set up in conjunction with the Uganda team.
• Socialise Programme Management Minimum Standards and best practices including PM@MC, and all other relevant standards.
• Foster a culture of compliance and accountability among the team with regards to Mercy Corps, donor and government laws, policies, rules and regulations.
• Capture lessons learned to improve future project start-ups.
• Prepare a post-startup work plan to guide transition to regular programme implementation.

• Excellent knowledge of organisation structure, resources and processes.
• Demonstrated understanding of programme management, policies and minimum standards.
• Experience in TVET training.
• Experience in MSD4E.
• Experience in innovative financial p.

• BA/BS degree in a relevant field, including development economics, finance, business administration, or a related field relevant to technical education, employment, or private-sector development.
• A minimum of 3 to 5 years managing programmes in the field for organisations like Mercy Corps.